GRID Legends: Definitive Edition - Review

It has been almost 4 years since GRID Legends first raced to release and when we reviewed it, we liked it, but found it missing a few crucial things. Since the launch the developers did release some pretty big updates and content packs for it, which fixed issues and gave more for players to do. Now we are 4 years later and the game is coming to a Nintendo platform for the first time, does this Definitive Edition live up to the name, or is it nothing more than a legend?

Content wise, this game features the base game and the DLC that was released as paid additions, beyond that, there is nothing more to this release. What this means is that you get the story mode, which features racing events intercut with various live action interviews, featuring actors like Ncuti Gatwa. While the base story mode is still present, with you taking on the role of Number 22, there is a little more, thanks to the included DLC. After playing it on the PS5, I was not chomping at the bit to play it again here, if only because I know the story. The other issue is that the game dictates times when you will lose, in order to push its narrative forward. If you never played the DLC that is a good reason to replay through it again here, but if you have, then there is no reason to jump in again.

The career mode is the same as well, just more of it with this version. The general goal is to select a vehicle class, complete all the cups in a tier and then unlock the next tier. The game is not just going to let you complete event after event, as there are requirements to unlocking some events inside a cup. The most common one is just driving a certain number of KM in the car class required for it, which is easily done. Sometimes though you need to upgrade a car to a Level 2 car, which does require a bit of grinding for money, if you were spending like crazy at the start. What I like about this method is that you are not locked into doing 8 electric car races in a row, because the third race might not unlock until you have achieved a random goal. This means unless you want to repeat a few races almost right away, you would go and choose a different cup to try. Of course, you can also just jump into a single race to do some laps and get your KM up, but where is the fun in that.

The more races that you compete in, the more credits and racecraft points, also known as XP, you earn and the latter is split over your racer level and the car class level. The former is just what you expect, your level is your skill and the higher it goes, the more things you can do with your team management. In the story mode, the team is locked for story purposes, but outside of that you are in control. The team management is one of those things you are either going to enjoy or not care about, with rarely any overlap. One of the big things is you can upgrade team members, which means when you are in a race, you can tell your team mate to block cars from passing, or be a little more aggressive in how they deal with other racers. You can also buy what amounts to buffs, these let you reduce upgrade costs, increase the rate at which you earn racecraft points and so on, giving you more ways to play. The credits let you unlock new upgrades for your cars, improving acceleration, braking and so on. Most of these upgrades are tied to how much you drive a car, which as I said before also unlocks more events. What this means is that you can’t just get a lot of credits and upgrade the best car, you have to work for it.

Now the one area that I was going to be worried about going in was the performance, because this is the first major racing game on Switch 2 and I had nothing to be worried about. The games menu is still bland and boxy, but you don’t buy a game for a menu, from the first race to the last, the game looked great in motion. I do stress in motion, as from the dozens of screens that I captured on the Switch 2, some of them look weird thanks to the motion blur. The games biggest draw are the cars, with some familiar brands all decked out in the usual assortment of race gear. There is some adjustments you can make with the livery editor, but it does fall onto the very basic side of things, rather than an in-depth offering. Now when racing, especially in a game like this, speed is important, both on the track and in terms of FPS and the game had both. There was only one single time that the game lagged and I tried multiple times to recreate it and was never able to, so I chalk that up to just one of those things.

I did have some visual pop-in issues, usually around the city circuits like San Francisco or Chicago. These were usually with the finer details on the larger buildings and were usually those ones in the background, not something you would see all the time. The only bizarre case of pop-in, was actually pop-out, usually games unload assets as you get away from them, standard stuff. On one track layout in San Francisco, the game unloaded the assets, in this case lit up windows, when I got close to it, no idea why. The other tracks all look great, I personally love the ones created for the series, and yes, a number of those tracks are still showing up after being in the other GRID titles.

I would be remiss to not mention the way that the game handles being played in docked versus handheld. When docked the game offers up two presets Graphics and Performance and both do what you expect, I personally went for graphics. In handheld the game is a bit different, as it offers up Balanced and Battery Saver. Balanced does what you expect, delivers great visuals whilst maintaining the performance. But for me Battery Saver was where it was at, because I managed to get nearly 90 minutes of racing in, with a little over half of the Switch 2’s battery being used. For comparison, when I play Mario Kart World in handheld, I can lose half of the battery for 40 minutes of play, so I very much like the results here.

GRID Legends: Definitive Edition on Switch 2 is an amazing port, it contains all the extra content and updates, which is nice. But the extra additions that Feral Interactive have added to the release just make things more approachable. For anyone who has invested significant time into any other version of the game, there is not a lot new to draw you in, but for those coming in fresh, there is a lot of game to enjoy. The game looks great, plays great and offers some great battery life on the go, making it one of my most enjoyed games on Switch 2.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Feral Interactive

The Pros

+The complete package, delivering lots of race modes, in a lot of locations, in so many cars, giving you so much to do

+Battery Saver is honestly amazing, it does exactly what you expect and does it so well

The Cons

-There is nothing really here for players who have spent time with the game before

-Not a Feral issue, but some of the tracks have been in all the games now and it is becoming annoying